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masterca BY REX ALEXANDER installed them for more than 20 years. And for better or for worse, the one thing that all cabinets, custom- or factory-built, have in common is relatively generic hardware. I've found that an attractive, fairly inexpensive way to customize a cabinet job is to make my own cabinet pulls. Natural forms, architectural styles, and common materials have inspired some of my creations. Poking around in the local lumberyard or hardware store also helps to conjure ideas from the simplest of materials. My customers appreciate the extra level of detail and typically don't mind paying a little extra. Here, I'll describe a few of the techniques that I use to make these pulls. Rex Alexander builds cabinetry and furniture in beautiful Brethren, Mich. Photos by Charles Bickford. Custolll-Illade cabinet pulls C abinets are my stock-in-trade; I've built and inspired by Greene & Greene One client's home was influenced heavily by the Greene brothers' architectural style, which became prominent in the early 1900s. The showpiece of the house is a staircase built from a mix of darkstained yellow birch and natural oak treads; from the Craftsman tradition and the stair's color scheme for this sleeve-style handle made from walnut and oak. I took my design cue Create mating pieces. I start with a long length of 1-in. by 1".4-in. walnut for the outer sleeve and cut a %-in.-wide, %-in.-deep dado on the tablesaw. Then I cut a long oak block that fits snugly in the dado, flush to the underside. Shape the ends on a stationary belt sander. After tracing a curve onto the oak-block ends, I sand the profile against a medium-grit belt on my sander. A shopmade jig keeps the sander stationary while providing a table to support the workpiece (see "Trick of the Trade, " p. 134). Decorative structure. To create the look of oak treenails, I cut a pyramid top on a length of %-in. square rod, then cut off a ".4-in.-tall peg that fits into a matching square recess in the walnut sleeve. I use a sharp ".4-in. chisel to create each recess. The last step is to glue up the entire assembly. 132 FINE HOMEBUILDING